Geoff Webb

From the past:

"The cardiologist suggested a change of lifestyle would be appropriate..."

2004

I had a rather circuitous route to ABHS as my father was in the railways. I was born in Sydney, moved to Junee, then on to Newcastle where I completed primary school and started high school at Newcastle Boys High, then to Casino and back to Sydney in 1961. We moved to Mount Colah and I transferred to ABHS for 4th year. I remember sitting outside Merv’s office for the whole first day while he chatted to a procession of new parents and their sons. Finally he talked to the boys who came alone at 3pm. Great entry! In my first week I remember having to vote for 40 prefects sight unseen (were there really that many?).

Fond memories of the Galston mob coming in late regularly– ‘the bus broke down on the Gorge etc’ - Jerry Cahill and the Gordon mob - later I was involved in Jerry’s first paid band gig at St Ives Masonic Hall – just as well he took up medicine as his day job. As I left the last L/C exam I asked John Hartigan what was he going to do – ‘be a journalist’. Judging from the bios he’s probably one of the few who stayed their original course. I didn’t do as well as expected so repeated the L/C at ABHS and so got to know many of the second 5th year quite well. Fond memories of the surfing movies at Gordon picture theatre. If you weren’t wearing desert boots, blue jeans and a duffle coat you stood out. I joined the Reserve Bank as a cadet (with Richard Sheppard). In 1971 I moved into the new world of the money markets (long before we were known as merchant wankers) in the same field as Leigh Scott- Kemmis. In 1975 I joined one of the earliest merchant banks in their Treasury operations as a dealer.

In 1972 I had lost a game of golf with Warwick Werner however he told me of some units and townhouses he was designing at North Ryde. We both bought one off the plan with a $500 deposit which left me with $10 in the bank! This was to be my bachelor pad however I was struck by the proverbial lightning and became engaged and then married Julie Forbes( whose brother Dave was at ABHS the year behind us – he was one of the surfer set) in 1973. With some construction delays we moved into the townhouse after our honeymoon.

We bought 5 acres at Arcadia and I was studying horticulture part time with the intention of establishing a plant nursery. Due to the better pay etc in merchant banking the only nursery we established was the one for our four kids (within the space of 6 years). When the fourth was announced as on the way someone at work asked if I was trying to fuck my way into the M/D’s role (he had seven!).

They are Scott who is 27,a chef and now a permaculturist who lives on a property out from Taree. Kate is 25. She was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes at 17 months and has not let it stand in her way. She is a nurse and has recently moved to the UK for 2 years. Tim is 23 and is an avid snowboarder who has worked to enable overseas snowboarding trips. He has finally started at UNSW. Nick is our youngest at 20. He is at Sydney Uni and majoring in Anatomy and Psychology hoping to go on to medicine. Kate’s diabetes led to a very active and satisfying involvement for Julie and myself in the early days of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

I ran the Treasury for a Canadian bank (CIBC) in Australia. In 1989 I was transferred to Hong Kong to run the Asian Treasury (HK, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore and Sydney) and be involved in our HK joint venture merchant bank. Our move was announced on the Friday and on the Monday morning as Julie flew out to HK to find a house and schools the Tien An Mien Square massacre was all over the TV. The effect in HK was severely erroneously reported and resulted in many international companies stopping the transfer of staff to HK. It allowed us to rent a better apartment at slightly cheaper than the going rate and find places in schools. HK was fantastic – the same buzz as New York without the violence. Moving to Asia was great for the family with lots of experiences and travel and meeting many new friends amongst the expatriate community. Work was challenging trying to unify many different cultures into a coordinated dealing team and reshaping the operations. As part of the restructuring I centralized the Asian Treasury operations in Singapore and we moved there. Again great people to work with however very much a police state and quite stultifying. The kids were in the English school system however when the Australian International School (with Coral Dixon from Ravenswood as Principal) was established we transferred our four and comprised 20% of the early enrolments (it now has 1,000+).

Whilst in Singapore Julie expanded her interest( passion) for antique Asian textiles into lecturing and then established a gallery that she ran from our home. In 1994 there were major problems for expat kids when the Singapore authorities arrested a number from the American School and charged them with a variety of minor offences. At the same time they cracked down on all expat kids. With draconian laws of detention without notification of parents and kids being frequently searched we felt it was unwise to stay with our somewhat boisterous tribe. The bank had meantime closed the Australian operations so we decided to come home.

Time for a career change! The old St Ives primary school had been closed and redeveloped and with Julie’s gallery experience we bought a gallery and coffee shop which was in the old headmaster’s residence. I was theoretically to help out for the first few months however the business became all consuming for both of us and with lots of hard work and much learning about the bizarre world of hospitality it evolved into Headmasters Gallery Restaurant. We won Best Restaurant in the North Shore Business Awards in 2002 and the gallery aspect became quite a feature. In late 2003 I had a problem with my heart which necessitated an operation to implant a stent to open a clogged artery.

The cardiologist suggested a change of lifestyle would be appropriate. Having been given a timely warning we decided to do a seachange (something which had been on our mind for some time as the kids became more independent). In rapid order we attacked the problem. In our inimitable fashion we firstly moved to Berry where we now run Far Meadow Lodge Band B ( www.farmeadowlodge.com.au) , then we sold the business, divorced the kids (leaving two in the family home in Sydney), and finally sold the beach house at Blueys.